


Happiness Pending.

by Mystrothedefender



Category: Joker (2019)
Genre: Arthur Gets a Friend, Arthur gets a new job, Emotional support animal, M/M, Recovery, Therapy Animal, it's gunna be GAY
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-15
Updated: 2019-11-17
Packaged: 2021-01-31 08:50:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21443506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mystrothedefender/pseuds/Mystrothedefender
Summary: Arthur accepts a new job, and finds it's perfect for him. Everything suddenly seems to be getting better for him, but how long can it last?
Relationships: Arthur/Original Male Character(s)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 73





	1. Chapter 1

In the corner of Arthur’s eye he saw it.

A help wanted sign, in bright colourful font, asking after a clown.

He’d been unemployed for less than a week, but it was already taking a toll on him, it was hard for him to get out of bed.

He turned on his heels to read the sign.

He knew this place, it was a restaurant for kids, people went there for birthday parties, Arthur had been there himself on a couple of special occasions.

His heart soared at the idea of working there.

He chewed his lip, letting out a weak huff as he contemplated in his head.

Should he do it?

What if they rejected him?

He closed his eyes for a moment, ignoring the people passing him on the street, trying to talk himself into it.

He needed a new job. He needed an income. He needed his meds. He loved being a clown. He loved working with children.

“Ok,” he said to himself, weakly. Nodding as he made a quick plan of his interactions in his head.

He opened the door to a cacophony of children’s screaming and laughter, loud music and smells.

It was jarring, the suddenness of it almost made him want to leave.

He let out a shaky breath, walking across the restaurant towards the counter. All the employees were dressed as clowns. Suddenly it occurred to him that he may have misread the sign and they were looking for a waiter or something who was willing to dress as a clown.

“Hi! How can I help you?” the young girl at the counter asked, a wide smile on her face, emphasised by the makeup she was wearing.

“I, uh,” Arthur said softly, he cleared his throat, strengthening the smile on his face, “The- the wanted sign outside?” he gestured to the door.

“Yeah?” the girl smiled, cocking her head slightly.

Arthur let out a weak involuntary laugh, clearing his throat again. “I’m a clown,” he said, trying to clarify.

“You’re interested in the position?” she asked him.

He nodded, smiling.

“Ok,” she said with a nod, she leant down under the counter and pulled out a piece of paper. “Fill out this form,” she instructed, placing some papers on the counter, “And just hand it back in. My manager said it’s first come first serve for interviews, so the sooner you can do it the better.”

Arthur nodded feverishly, taking the paper and folding it, taking out his notebook and placing inside the cover. “Thankyou,” he said, giving the girl a nod.

His heart was racing as he left, he was filled with a nervous energy. He let out a breath and began to make his way towards the local library, he didn’t want to fill the form out at home, he knew as soon as he got home he’d get distracted and he didn’t want that to happen. He wanted to fill this out as soon as possible and return it to the restaurant.

He sat down at one of the tables, the chair squeaking as he did.

He pulled out his notebook, his pen, and the forms, looking through them. One page had information about the position which he guessed he was supposed to keep. He began filling the application form out, in his best handwriting.

He was able to fill it out relatively easily.

Name.

Address.

Phone number.

Education.

Relevant experience.

References.

That one stumped him a little.

If he put Hoyt as a refence he would tell them what happened, and he might not get the job.

He let out a huff, and put Hoyt down anyway.

He’d just explain that the gun was a prop, and the situation had been blown out of proportion. It would be fine.

It would be fine.

He stared down at his finished work, letting out another soft breath.

He nodded, and got to his feet, carefully folding the application back into his notebook and making his way back towards the restaurant.

As he walked he let himself imagine what it might be like if he got the job.

Full 8 hour shifts, making children laugh all day, getting to eat freshly cooked food on his lunchbreak. It was only a short train ride from his house. Maybe he’d meet a girl. The lady who he’d spoken to before seemed nice, she was very pretty, he could tell she was even with the makeup on.

When he entered the restaurant he was saddened to see that she wasn’t at the counter. He looked around and couldn’t see her.

He swallowed hard as he walked up to the man who had replaced her.

He was huge, almost a foot taller than Arthur was, twice as wide as Arthur was, clown makeup smeared on his face, an apron wrapped tight around him to the point you could see his muscles.

Arthur’s heart was in his throat as he approached him.

“Hi, how can I help you?” the man said cheerily, his tone the total opposite of his daunting appearance.

“He-hello,” Arthur choked out, his throat dry.

He paused for a moment, gathering himself, he hadn’t expected there to be someone different here.

“The girl who was here before?” he said weakly, his voice on the verge of shaking.

The man gave a soft nod, the expression on his face hardening a little. “She’s indisposed right now, how can_ I_ help you?”

Arthur felt himself shudder slightly at his change of tone. He let out a soft breath and straightened himself up, reaching into his pocket for his notebook, pulling the application form out. “The girl who was here gave me this. I filled it out. For, uh, for the clown job?”

The man’s face softened again, and the smile on his face widened into a more natural one, “Oh! Oh, ok, good.” He held out his hand to take it, “Thankyou. I’m, uh,” he held out his other hand, “I’m Nathanial Goodman, I’m the manager here, well, Kitchen Manager officially but I... uh.” He shook his head, as if he were trying to stop himself talking, “You can call me Nate.”

Arthur reached out to take his hand, shaking it as firm as he could. “I’m Arthur. Arthur Fleck. You can call me, uh, Carnival. My- my clown name’s Carnival.”

Nate frowned, pulling his hand back, looking Arthur up and down, “So you’re an actual clown?”

“Yes, sir,” Arthur said with a nod.

“Trained and everything,” Nate asked, sounding almost impressed.

Arthur nodded again, his chest swelling slightly. Usually people made fun of him for his profession, he wasn’t used to people being impressed. “Yes, sir.”

“Ok.” Nate pulled open the application form and began to read through it, nodding as he did and occasionally looking up at Arthur.

Arthur swayed nervously as he watched Nate read. After a few second of awkward silence he felt a catch in his throat, the odd tickling sensation that often preceded his tic. He cleared his throat to try and chase the feeling away, he didn’t need an attack right now.

“This all looks good,” Nate smiled. “How about an interview tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow?” Arthur said, almost shocked, his spirit soaring.

“Yeah… We need someone asap. Our last clown, Jerry, he quit with no notice.” Nate clicked his tongue, “How about 10:30? You could do a trial session during lunch, it’s Wednesday so it won’t be too busy.”

Arthur’s heart sped up in his chest, a wide smile spread across his face, “Yes, yes, of course. I’d-I’d love that.”

Nate nodded and smiled, “Great. See you tomorrow, Mr Fleck. In appropriate clown attire, if you could.”

Arthur nodded, smiling as he left.

Through the journey home he couldn’t stop smiling, Mr Goodman had been so impressed that he’d wanted an interview the next day. His heart was fluttering with happiness. It’d been so long since he’d felt this kind of happiness. This kind of hope.

“Mom!” he called as he entered the apartment. “I got a new job!” He made his way to the kitchen, “…I hope,” he added.

He looked across the livingroom to where his mother sat, smiling widely, “It’s as a clown in a restaurant. Isn’t that… great…?” his sentence petered off as he realised she was asleep.

“Mom,” he called again, softly, walking across the room towards her. “Wake up. I’m getting a new job.”

“Oh…” she said quietly as she stirred, slowly absorbing what he’d said.

“It’s full time, at a restaurant,” he told her.

She frowned, “What kind of restaurant needs a clown?”

He let out a soft chuckle, “It’s for kids, mom.” He let out a weak sigh, “Have you eaten?”

She nodded, “Yeah, a while ago.”

“You wanna go to bed?” he asked, holding out his hand to help her up.

She nodded again, barely able to keep her eyes closed.

“Ok,” he smiled, “You go to bed, I’ll stay up a little while.”

“Eat something too,” she urged him as he lead her towards the bedroom. “I worry about you, Happy.”

He let out a soft laugh, “Mom,” he cooed, embarrassed.

He lead her to bed and then returned to the livingroom, pulling out the page of the application form that he’d kept, and he read through the job description.

Listed were his expected duties, the pay, which was more than double minimum, followed by who he’d be reporting to. His heart dropped a little at the name ‘Nate Goodman’.

That was the man he’d talked to before.

That big scary looking guy.

He’d looked as if he could have snapped Arthur in half if he’d wanted to.

He’d seemed nice, though. The way he talked was calming.

It would be fine, he was sure.

Part of him was terrified, but part of him was more excited about this than he’d been about anything before.

He placed the paper down on the coffee table, and got up to get himself a beer, he picked a few slices of chicken out of the fridge and nibbled at them between sips of his drink as he returned to the sofa.

Every time he tried to focus on the tv it seemed... fuzzy. His attention was being pulled to the piece of paper on the table.

He couldn’t calm down.

He picked up the paper and read it again, and again. Trying to gain a meaning from the words that wasn’t there.

He tried to calm himself by thinking of questions that Nate might ask him. How he should act, what he should say.

“How are you qualified for the position?” he asked himself, putting on a deeper tone, imitating Nate. He smiled and shrugged, talking in his regular voice, “Well, I had a previous position as a clown, where I was trained, I worked in a lot of different environments which prepared me for pretty much anything.”

He nodded slowly, shuffling make believe papers and shifting where he sat.

“Why do you want this position?” he asked himself. He shrugged nonchalantly, “My…” he cleared his throat, shifting again and restarting his sentence. “In my previous job I didn’t actually get to work with children that much, and I love working with children. I like that I’ll get to work with them all the time here.” He let out a soft hum. “I like how easy it is to entertain children… I…” he shook his head, “No, that makes me sound lazy.” He shook his head again, harder this time. He clapped his hands to his knees, “I just need a job, Nate! Things cost money!” he let out a short laugh, cupping his hand to his face.

“Damn it,” he said quietly.

He slapped himself in the face, “Damn it! Come on!”

He jolted as his mom called out from the other room. “Stop being so loud!”

He let out a huff, “Sorry mom, sorry, I’ll…” he shook his head, “I’ll shut up.”


	2. Chapter 2

Arthur had spent quite a long time getting ready for the interview. He wanted to make sure he looked good, prefect. His makeup was done, his costume cleaned and ironed.

He couldn’t stop smiling, or shaking.

He was filled with a nervous energy.

He hadn’t eaten, he couldn’t bring himself to.

It was just a job interview. It would be over in an hour.

He arrived at the restaurant at 10:25. A little early.

He approached the counter, a wide smile on his face.

“Hello!” he said enthusiastically to the girl behind the counter, the same one who he’d talked to the previous day.

“Hello! How can I help you today?” the girl said, almost automatically, she paused, “uh, you must be Arthur. You’re here for the interview, right?”

“You can call me Carnival,” Arthur said, pulling a bunch of fake flowers from his sleeve and handing it to her.

“Oh my god!” she cooed, taking the flowers, “That is just so cute.” She let out a soft laugh. “Let me get Nate.”

She disappeared into the back of the restaurant, and Arthur turned to look around, smiling at the restaurant.

There were 4 rows of seating; two rows of red leather booths and two of regular wooden tables and chairs. Against the window at the far wall was an extra long table, which Arthur guessed was for big parties.

The restaurant was sparsely populated, at 10:30 on a Wednesday most children were in school.

There were two women in one of the booths, three children between them, two of them around 4 years old, and one probably not even a year old.

“Look!” one of the women said, motioning to get the youngest child’s attention, “Jenny, a clown.”

Arthur smiled at them, giving them an emphasised wave.

The baby waved back, and one of the women gasped.

“Oh my god!” the other exclaimed, “She waved! She’s never done that before!”

Arthur waved at her again, walking over towards them. The baby waved back again. He puffed out his cheeks and crossed his eyes. The baby laughed.

“She’s so cute,” Arthur said sweetly as he got to their booth.

“Isn’t she?” one of the ladies said, she looked between the baby and Arthur. “She really likes you.”

Arthur reached out to boop the baby on the nose, “Aw. Well I really like you too, Jenny,” he cooed. “How old is she?” he asked awkwardly, not entirely used to strangers being so social with him.

“8 months,” the woman said proudly.

“Practically a grownup,” Arthur joked, letting out a soft laugh.

“Carnival.” A deep voice came from behind them, Arthur jolted and turned, nervousness returning to him in a wave.

“Yes, sir,” Arthur said quickly, his voice pitching.

Nate smiled at him from behind the counter, a small wad of papers in his hand. “You want to pick a place to sit? So we can talk.”

“Yes, sir,” Arthur nodded. He looked around, walking up to one of the smaller tables and sitting down at it, looking up at Nate and waiting for him to approach.

“As much as I like being called ‘sir’ you know that’s not necessary,” Nate said as he walked over, sitting opposite Arthur.

Arthur shifted where he sat, straightening himself up, “Oh, uh,” he glanced down at Nate’s papers, “Sorry.”

Nate smiled, “Nothing to be sorry about.” He looked over the papers, one of which Arthur recognised as his application form.

“I see you’re already getting on with the regular customers,” Nate observed.

Arthur shrugged, “I just like children,” he said, speaking truthfully, barely thinking about what he was saying, “They’re so innocent, and every good day is the best day of their lives.” He smiled and shrugged again, “And I like when people talk about their kids, they always sound so proud.”

Nate nodded, a soft smile on his face, “Yeah, it’s nice.” He cleared his throat, “Ok. Interview questions.”

Arthur felt himself tense at the words. He wasn’t all that good under pressure.

“Don’t worry,” Nate said, able to sense Arthur’s unease. “You’re the only applicant so far who has any kind of experience being a clown, or their own costume, so you’ve got to do really bad at this to fail.”

Arthur chuckled and nodded, if it weren’t for the heavy makeup he had on Nate would have seen him blush. That did take some of the weight off his chest.

“So,” Nate said slowly. “Can you tell me about a time you struggled at work, and how you overcame that?”

“Uh,” the discomfort quickly returned to Arthur, he hadn’t expected questions like that so soon in the interview. He cleared his throat, “Um…” He let out a breath, forcing himself calm, “Work is…” he cleared his throat again, “As a clown most of the struggles I face come from, uh, people who don’t want to be entertained. I recently got jumped by a group of kids and I…” he shook his head, his voice raising a little, his face turning into a pained grimace for a moment, “I didn’t stand a chance, Nate. All you can do after that is… stand back up and try to keep going. I guess.”

“You got beat up? At work?” Nate asked, concern in his voice.

Arthur scoffed, nodding emphatically, “More often than you’d think a clown would get beat up.”

Nate let out a growl, the noise made Arthur’s stomach clench. “Well, I want you to know that we don’t tolerate employee abuse here, as long as you’re in this building you’ll be treated well.”

Arthur smiled weakly, “Good. That’s good.”

“Why did you become a clown?” Nate asked.

Arthur smiled, he could answer that easily. “My mom always told me that I was meant to bring happiness into the world. I was meant to make people laugh. I just want to make people laugh. I always have, being a clown, or a comedian, it’s a dream for me, I love it.”

Nate gave a soft nod. “Why do you want to work here?”

Arthur felt his gut twitch again, this was the question he’d had an issue answering before. “I… uh,” an answer suddenly came to him, “I think I already answered that, really. I like working wi-“ he felt his breath catch in his throat, he cleared his throat, trying to push the attack away. “I like working with children-“

He raised his hand to his mouth as laughter forced its way up his throat.

Nate frowned as pained laughter spilled from Arthur.

“Are you ok?” Nate asked as Arthur wrapped his forearm round to cover his mouth.

Arthur nodded, trying to force himself to calm down. He reached into his pocket and pulled out one of his cards, placing it on the table, laughter still coming from him, tears beginning to track his cheeks.

Nate read the card and nodded sternly. “Ok. Focus on breathing, Arthur, don’t worry, I can wait.”

Nate leant back in his chair, looking over to the girl behind the counter, “Holly, could you bring us a jug of water, please?”

Holly complied, bringing over some water and a couple of glasses.

Slowly Arthur’s laughter petered out, leaving him gasping.

“Drink,” Nate instructed him. “Are you ok?”

Arthur took a gulp of the cold water, closing his eyes and breathing deeply. “Ye-yeah…” he said quietly, his voice hoarse. “Sorry, I have a condition,” he said quietly.

“Don’t apologise,” Nate said, raising his hand. “Does that happen often? If I may ask.”

Arthur shrugged, “It gets worse if I’m stressed,” he smiled, “So, yeah,” he let out a soft laugh.

Nate nodded, “Ok, well if it were to happen during work we do have a space for you to calm down.”

In Arthur’s experience ‘a space to calm down’ was either the staff toilets or a janitor closet.

“I also have a condition,” Nate informed him, “I want to let you know that mental illness has no baring on your worth here.”

Arthur felt himself smile again. “In my last job everyone thought I was, uh, _creepy_.”

Nate shook his head. “It astounds me that in this day and age there is still so many people who think like that. We’re not in the 50s anymore.” He let out a huff, “I could talk your ear off about it, but I’ll try not to.”

Arthur shook his head quickly, “No, it’s ok, I feel the same way,” his voice dropped a little, “It’s like no one cares about us, we’re- we’re vulnerable people, and they just ignore us or make fun of us it…” Arthur closed his eyes and pursed his lips, “Sorry…” He let out a laugh, “It’s not ‘interview appropriate’, is it.”

“Not really,” Nate huffed, “But who cares, really.” He cleared his throat, “Next interview question.” He smiled, “What did you like most about your previous job?”

Arthur shrugged, the nervousness that had filled him seemed to have dissipated. “I really liked getting to work at the hospital. Children going through horrible illnesses still able to find a reason to laugh. It’s inspiring. I wish more adults were like that.”

Nate nodded, smiling weakly, putting the small pile of papers on the table. “You know, I like you, I’ve got a really good feeling about you, Arthur.” He held out his hand, “I’d like to welcome you to the team.”

Arthur stared at his hand, “Just like that?” he asked, his voice quiet.

Nate nodded, “There wasn’t really a question of it. Like I said yesterday, we need someone asap, you’re qualified,” he shrugged, “Welcome to the team,” he repeated.

Arthur took his hand and shook it, letting out a weak laugh. “Thankyou,” he said weakly. “My mom’s going to be so happy.”

“Your mom?” Nate asked, smiling.

Arthur nodded, “Yes, I, uh,” he straightened up, a tone of pride coming to him, “I live with my mother.”

“You’re the sole provider?” Nate asked.

Arthur nodded.

Nate returned his nod. “I’ve been there. Don’t worry, we’re a family first employer.”

“What…” Arthur cleared his throat, “What does that mean?”

“If anything happens to your mother and you need to leave work for whatever reason, it’s fine.” He smiled, “For example last week my cat had an accident, I was able to take a few hours out of my shift to take her to the vets.”

“You have a cat?” Arthur smiled.

Nate nodded, “Yes, Pickle.”

“I always wanted a cat, but my mum’s allergic. What colour is she?” he asked.

“She’s orange,” Nate answered.

“How old?”

“6 years old,” Nate smiled.

Arthur paused, and withdrew a little. “Sorry, I’m asking too many questions.”

Nate shook his head quickly, “No, not at all. I love talking about her.” He seemed to have softened in his seat, he didn’t look anywhere near as large or daunting now. “She used to be a therapy animal, they’d take her into hospitals so kids could play with her.”

Arthur cooed softly, “She must be so sweet.”

Nate nodded, “She really helps calm me down.”

“Maybe I could meet her,” Arthur smiled widely.

Nate let out a soft chuckle, “Sure. She loves meeting new people.”


End file.
